Again
by Elyse Estheim
Summary: A big upcoming presentation has Hope in the office late again, but he's forgotten what day it is, and his family has come to remind him. A quick and unexpected post-LR HopexLight drabble for my beta, RainbowSerenity's birthday. :)


A little post-LR drabble I threw together (literally - took about an hour) for the bestest of the betas and HopeLight fluff queen herself, RainbowSerenity . Happiest of birthdays, lady! 3

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><p><strong>Again<strong>

"One... two... three..." A tiny voice recited quietly in the hallway as little feet padded in time with each number. Hope was in his office late, again, working away at his computer on his department's latest proposal, again, and had missed dinner, _again_. He hated that this project was taking up so much of his free time, but the presentation was in two days and the team wasn't quite ready. Almost - but not quite, and a lot was riding on this one. If he could just nail this presentation and secure funding for the project, he would be free of the late hours, the constant overtime, and the relative inability to work from home when he wanted to, _and_ would get a pretty significant bonus on top of it, which would come in handy considering the circumstances back home.

The voice in the hallway was louder now. "Four... five... seven-"

"Six, honey."

"Oh, yeah. Six... seeeven..."

Hope couldn't stop the wide grin from breaking through his concentration (which was more or less shot anyway from the moment he heard that small voice outside his door, and especially after he heard the deeper one). Adjusting his glasses as he looked quickly through the work he had done through the evening before saving his progress, he looked up as the handle on his door turned quickly and promptly flung back into a neutral position, as if it had been the spring of a door-stopper flicked by a child. Which, in a way, was exactly what had happened.

"Mommy, I can't reach it! Can you give me a little help, please?"

"What did you forget to do, baby? Remember what Mommy taught you today?"

A moment of silence right outside his door, enough to allow Hope to rush across the room and crouch against the wall where the door would obscure his presence when opened.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry 'bout that. I remember!"

Tiny, yet incessant knocks from tiny, precious hands.

"Hello, excuse me, anybody home?"

Hope, still low in a crouch, tensed his muscles as the door opened slowly, no doubt pushed by a little body _just_ lacking the strength to do so completely on its own and so aided by the young mother following close behind. The muscles in his stiff legs were almost pulsing with anticipation. He watched silently as the little silver-mopped intruder tiptoed giggling into the room, stopping abruptly and standing straight when she noticed the empty desk.

"Mommy?" He watched the girl look back at her mother with uncertainty. Thankfully, she hadn't yet fully developed a sense of awareness as to her surroundings.

"I bet he's hiding, honey," came the deeper voice in a mischievous whisper from behind the propped open door. "Be _very_ quiet and see if you can get him."

"Oh! Okay," the little girl whispered loudly, and she resumed her hunt. Hope knew she would cross right in front of him to get to the other side of his desk. She always crossed around that way, on the opposite side of the "big yellow man," a foot-tall carving of Alexander he'd had commissioned a couple years ago, which she said scared her. He almost put it into storage when she told him that, but his wife had assured him she would grow out of it and he moved it from their home to his office instead. Sure enough, she passed in front of him, his body pressing further into the corner created by the wall and the open door, and once she had moved further into the room, he pounced.

"Gotcha!" he cried victoriously, throwing his arms around the squirming little body and scooping her up into a tight embrace.

"Daddy stop!" she giggled uncontrollably, pushing at his chin. "It was supposed to be a surprise!"

Hope set her down on the floor and knelt before her, ruffling her hair affectionately. "Sorry, kiddo."

A low chuckle coming from behind him followed closely by the click! of the closing door nabbed his attention and felt his heart beat faster at the sight of his wife. "Sevannah, how are you supposed to surprise your father when you gave yourself away before we even reached the door?" She pulled her curly rose-colored locks out of the padlock grip of the two-year-old balanced on her hip and tossed a halfhearted glare in Hope's direction. "You, Mr. Estheim, are late."

"Sorry, Light," he apologized, standing and crossing over to her, kissing her fully before relieving her of her platinum blonde burden, tossing him gently into the air and deftly catching him. "How's my little ace in the hole?"

"Which one?" Lightning smirked, rubbing her hand absentmindedly over her swollen abdomen. "I'm telling you, Hope - after this one, I'm done."

"You said that after Sev," he teased, crouching down to lift the three-year-old reaching up towards him grabbing his pant leg and balancing her on the hip opposite her brother. "_And_ Ace."

"I mean it this time," she grumbled as she arched her back, a hand pressed against the back of her hip as she did so. "Three kids under the age of five at the same time? Are we insane?"

Hope craned his neck to keep two pairs of tiny hands from ripping his glasses off of his face, again. "Either that, or we're just _really_ in sync in the bedroom."

"Daddy, what's sync?" Sevannah asked innocently, still grabbing for Hope's glasses to no avail.

"I don' wanna bed!" came little Ace's disgruntled protest.

"It's not time for bed yet, little man," Hope laughed, setting his two children down on his desk chair. "You two want to watch that movie again?" He had taken film of the last project his team had worked on - a small-scale prototype hover platform only big enough for a hamster. The animal had ridden the platform up and down a handful of times before the project was declared a success and shelved until another team could take on the task of developing one big enough to handle the average person's weight.

"Flying hamster! Flying hamster!" the little girl cried happily as she clapped her hands together. Ace seemed nonplussed, but quickly caught onto his sister's enthusiasm and mimicked her applause. Hope pulled up the video and set it to play on loop while he went to properly greet his wife, who was standing to the side of his desk tapping her foot impatiently.

"Hi, love," he murmured as he cupped her face in his hands and guided her mouth to his own. She gave into his ministrations, covering one of his hands with hers and smiling into the kiss before pulling back abruptly to frown at him again.

"Uh-uh, Hope Estheim. Were you planning on staying here all evening again, on your birthday?" she admonished. "The kids helped with your cake and everything."

Hope blinked for a moment before he remembered the date. "I can't believe I actually forgot my birthday," he said, shaking his head. "I can't wait for this presentation to be over with..."

"Well, for tonight," she began with a cautiously optimistic look, "can it be?"

Hope sighed as he dropped his hands to her belly, brushing his thumb over the stretched skin. He really wasn't where he needed to be to leave for the evening, and had only stepped away thinking his family had dropped in for a quick visit. It was tradition in their family, though, to go out for dinner at whatever restaurant the birthday boy or girl chose, so either he left now to celebrate with his beloved family and left very, _very_ early in the morning to come in and catch up, or he stayed here for who knows how many more hours and got here at the normal time tomorrow morning. One way or another, he needed at least two more days of work to feel prepared enough for the presentation, and aside from today, he only had one remaining.

A kick just under his hand interrupted his internal debate, and he smiled lovingly at his unborn son - or daughter - and then to his older children, who were blissfully laughing away at his computer screen. Lightning leaned her head to the side to catch his eye, her own pleading. He looked down at his hands again still completely conflicted. This bonus would really help with the new baby, especially since they were still paying off the hospital bills from the first two. Hope smiled again when Lightning's hands slid up from the underside of her belly and took hold of his hands, lifting them to her chest. She leaned in and gently kissed his mouth, then his cheek, then ghosted her lips against his ear.

"I promise it'll be worth your while," she breathed seductively, the warm air tickling him and eliciting a shiver he couldn't suppress. She smirked as he shook it off, which he didn't miss as he turned his head towards her and claimed her lips once more.

"Fine," he said, his voice much lower than normal. "But only if you're my alarm in the morning."

"Oh, I think that can be arranged," she smiled against his mouth before pulling away to gather the children. "I'll even wear that thing you got me for Christmas again." She backed away from him, smirking when she saw the excitement on his face, and turned to pull Ace and Sevannah away from Hope's computer, ushering them towards the exit. With a final suggestive glance back at him, she corralled their toddlers out the door and let it shut behind her.

It took him a moment to wipe the dazed grin off his face before he dashed to his computer, saved his work to the hard drive and his backup, grabbed his briefcase, and rushed out after them. He would probably hate himself for it tomorrow, but there was no way he was getting much sleep tonight. Again.

Best birthday _ever._


End file.
